


Pumpkin Soup

by HexingQueen



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD implied, Sweet, and only angsty on the surface, it's very sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 00:16:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17355332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HexingQueen/pseuds/HexingQueen
Summary: "Zelda opens her mouth to say something, but he links his little finger with hers, shifting to look at her - and she can’t speak, she can’t ask why he won’t eat, she can’t ask why he looks so, so sad, all the time - he’s so beautiful, so gentle even when his face is covered in scars and his eyes have circles so dark underneath they rival Mia."Saving the world is one thing - adjusting back is another.





	Pumpkin Soup

“I’m not hungry.”

Zelda hears it more often than not, these days, but it still stings a little.

She pauses, bowl of hot soup in her hand, polished spoon in the other, and tries again.

“It’s your favourite. I got the pumpkins especially, you know, I-”

“I’m just not hungry,” he mumbles, “I’m sorry.”

The girl sighs, placing the dish on the table by her. The pot on the stove behind her threatens to bubble over - she did make extra - but the thick orange mixture doesn’t look so appealing anymore.

He barely eats, now.

She sits next to him on the floor - why is he even on the floor? - her hand brushing over his. She’s not exactly shy of acting like this, but it still feels a little surreal, so she lingers. She contemplates even speaking, at first, Link’s dark blond hair drooping over his eyes, his knees pulled to his chest.

He looks so _sad_.

Zelda opens her mouth to say something, but he links his little finger with hers, shifting to look at her - and she can’t speak, she can’t ask why he won’t eat, she can’t ask why he looks so, so sad, all the time - he’s so beautiful, so gentle even when his face is covered in scars and his eyes have circles so dark underneath they rival Mia.

“I’m sorry,” He says, tracing patterns on her hand, “you worked hard, right? I’ll eat.”

She wants to cry.

“It’s okay. If you’re not hungry, I won’t- I won’t force you or anything. We can always have it later - Well, it might go cold, but-”

He wraps his arm around her, cutting her off, pulling her closer. “I’m really sorry, Zeldie. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about it.” Link leans forward, brushing her fringe off her forehead and pressing his lips there, “Cheer up, okay?”

It doesn’t really have the intended effect.

She immediately lets out a muffled sob, sinking further into him and burying her face in his shoulder, the tears dripping down her cheeks cold against his neck. It’s all too much - the scars, the sadness, the smiles, the kisses, the stupid, stupid soup on the stove.

“You cheer up. You barely smile anymore, you don’t eat, you don’t-”

  
What else? She doesn’t even know what she’s trying to say, she doesn’t know why it’s so hard to just tell him she’s worried.

Link doesn’t know how to react other than finally shifting his weight and holding her completely in his arms, his hands running through her hair as she melts against him. “Shhh, it’s okay - it’s okay, you’re okay-”

She surprises him by pulling back sharply, violently brushing the tears off her face, her voice impressively steady for somebody still crying. “It’s not okay. You’re not okay, and you won’t talk about it. You spend all your time comforting me, and you won’t even tell me why you don’t eat anything.”

She doesn’t know why she’s so adamant about it. They both know. They both know why neither of them can sleep more than 2 hours without jolting awake, they both know why neither of them can concentrate on anything for more than 5 minutes at a time, they both know why thunder is suddenly the scariest thing in the world to them.

They just never talk about it.

“Please.” She says, her voice wobbling a little now, “please let me be here for you. Please, Link. I know what you’ve been through, I-”

“You’ve been through worse.” He protests immediately, “you’ve been through so much worse. I shouldn’t complain, it’s not right.”

Her heart breaks. He’s so selfless, so giving and so kind and she doesn’t deserve him. She doesn’t deserve his comfort, she doesn’t deserve his courage.

In her eyes, he has been to hell and back and it’s all because of her.

And still he remains the kindest, most gentle soul she knows.

She can’t stand Hylia. Whether or not that means she can’t stand herself, she doesn’t care. She still can’t quite grasp it, she still can’t handle having a head half filled with memories of running round Skyloft and half filled with seeing death upon death upon death, she can’t walk more than a mile without feeling as though she doesn’t quite belong in her body or in the world she’s in.

The one thing she can grasp is that she would go through everything, to every temple in every volcano and every spring in every lake, to the ends of the earth and back again, to _hell_ _itself_ if it meant he would be okay. If she could see his smile again, his beautiful, wonderful smile.

And she doesn’t even know the half of it. He just won’t tell her. He shrugs it off whenever she brings it up, dismisses all her worries and tells her it’s okay - he has her, it’s okay, it doesn’t matter what happened because he has her back.

She might be a Goddess, but she sure as hell had mortal emotions.

“Link.” She sighs, “I’m not asking you to tell me everything at once. But you and I both know you went through everything Hylia could possibly throw at you, and I’m not going to invalidate any of that just because I had a hard time, too.

I don’t want you to, either. I want to be here for you, you know, I- I want to help. Please let me.”

His eyes soften slightly, his gaze lingering slightly on her lips before he cups her face in his hand.

“Alright.”

She lets out a sigh of both relief and affection, smiling lightly at him before taking his hand in hers and pulling him gently to his feet.

“You know,” She laughs a little, “you really do have to stop sitting on the floor. We do have chairs, and last I checked they also existed in Skyloft.”

A genuine smile crosses his features for a moment, and he sniggers slightly, “I guess I forgot about civilisation, huh?”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I love you.”

It’s still weird, hearing that.

“I love you too.”

It’s nicer saying it than hearing it, she thinks. She hopes he knows how much she loves him.

“...Are we going to use the chairs anytime soon, Goddess?”

He snaps her out of her trance, and she huffs, “I told you to stop calling me that.”

“I’m not calling you that because you are a Goddess, I’m calling you that because you look like one.”

“Because I am one.”

“Would you please,” He laughs, “let me give you a cringey compliment?”

“No.” She retorts, pushing him down into a chair, “I’ve heard enough from Groose over the years, thank you.”

  
She sits opposite from him, pushing the now lukewarm bowl of soup towards him. It’s not really a genuine offer anymore, but he appreciates it nonetheless.

The briefly light-hearted mood has all but shattered, though, and she’s almost tempted to stop the conversation before it even begins, because he actually laughed. She misses his laugh, so, so much.

It’s not that he’s a misery all the time. He does smile, he does laugh, he does kiss her on the nose and call her _Mrs_ Hero. It’s just that his smiles drop almost as soon as they show, his laughs turn into sighs, his kisses turn into silent hugs that last an hour. She’s tired of silently comforting him.

“What do you want to talk about?” He prompts her gently, tilting his head to the side, “you can ask whatever you want. I don’t mind.”

She supposes she can’t really say everything. It’d be way too much, and probably extremely overwhelming for him.

Zelda doesn’t really want to start with the heavy stuff, either, though. She’d like to know it eventually, but she decides to let him tell her in his own time. She knows part of the reason he can’t go to sleep without holding her - he’ll tell her the rest, she knows, when he can.

Her eyes dart to the soup bowl, and she shrugs. “Well, why don’t you eat much?”

“You do ask the strangest things. I did say you could ask whatever you wanted, Zeldie.”

“And I asked why you don’t eat much!” She replies, “considering you once ate my entire school lunch and your own in ten minutes.”

“First of all,” He begins, “I woke up after class had already started and had no breakfast. And, secondly - it was vegetable soup, and you don’t even like vegetable soup.”

“I have heard your explanation a thousand times over, sleepyhead.” She rolls her eyes fondly, but her tone remains serious, “I’m asking you something else now.”

He shrugs, his voice quieter. “You know.” He says, “I just got used to not eating.”

“To not eating?”

“Well, I could go home sometimes. It was nice, when I could, but…”

“But?”

“I couldn’t always.”

“Well, yes.” She frowns, “...obviously, sweetheart.”

  
“If I was in a temple or dungeon or- or just in a stretch of land I’d been walking down for hours - I’d be starving. When I first went, I mean. Maybe the first… two temples?” He pauses, his eyes meeting hers. “The first one, anyway. I was so hungry, I was nearly tempted to eat the mushrooms there.

I think they were probably poisonous. So I’m quite glad I didn’t.”

“I thought there were statues inside the temple?” She questions gently, “couldn’t you leave?”

“I could. Technically. I was prompted to by Fi a few times, but I just… couldn’t bear the thought of it. It was a waste of time, leaving and then having to traverse the same ten rooms again, kill the same monsters again. And, besides…” His voice trails off slightly, his eyes pricking with tears, “I was so scared I would be too late for you.”

“Link, I…” Zelda’s words fail her, her mind jumbled with thoughts of _I_ _hate_ _you_ _I_ _hate_ _you_ _I_ _hate_ _you_ towards Hylia, of complete heartbreak for the boy in front of her, for guilt and love and sympathy all at once. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s alright.” He says, “It’s not your fault, so please don’t say sorry.”

“It is, I-”

“Shhh. I know you think it is, but I don’t see you as responsible for anything Hylia did.” He smiles ever so slightly, resting his chin in his hand, “you’re still my Zelda, remember?”

“I am.”

She doesn’t know what else to say.

He continues, though, clearing his throat, “Once I had cleared a few temples, though, like I said, I just got used to it. The feeling didn’t really bother me as much after a while, and I could easily go a whole day as long as I had a bit of water or a potion. I kept soup in bottles, sometimes - that was nice.”

She glances at the bowl again and smiles bashfully. “You must be sick of soup. I’m sorry.”

“Well,” He starts, “no soup I had was ever as nice as yours.”

“What about that time you had 3-day old soup you found in your wardrobe?”

“Oh, of course.” He raises an eyebrow, “that was delicious. Far nicer than any meal you have ever made me.”

“I should just serve you that, then.” She retorts, “since your palette is so sophisticated.”

“Don’t.” Link laughs a little, “you know, I did eat bugs in the desert once. It was… revolting.”

  
“You ate a bug?”

In any other context, it would be funny, but the mood is shot again.

“Yeah. I mean, not raw. Obviously I cooked them first, and according to Fi it was actually quite good for you. Not that I wanted to, but I’d run out of potions and I had to keep my strength up until we reached the next statue and I could go back to Skyloft.

So... Bug skewers.”

“Bug skewers.” She repeats, an involuntary snigger coming from her, "Bug skewers."

“Yes, bug-” He stops, the corners of his mouth curling upwards again, “Are you laughing?”

“I’m sorry--” She manages to get out between giggles, “I’m sorry, this is supposed to be seri-- bug skewers?”

It’s not too long before they’re both doubled over with laughing at something that isn’t even that funny, the idea of a bug skewer so stupid the house is filled with giggles not heard in months, Link brushing away tears that stemmed from joy rather than pain.

He will tell her one day about the scars, about the blood, about the nights spent curled up alone next to a sword, and she will listen and cry with him and hold him close, but for now, this is enough.

“I love you,” She says once they’ve stopped finding it quite so hilarious, “I love you so much.”

It might take years and years for them to share their stories, and some things might never be shared. But she will always be there for him, always be there to listen - he will always be there to calm her down and kiss her cheek and make her truly believe, for the first time in a very, very long time, that she is safe.

As long as they have each other, as long as Link has Zelda and Zelda has Link, it will be okay.

It always will be.

Behind them, the pot of soup goes forgotten, the nights of loneliness and coldness left in the past, the happiness they used to find in little things slowly returning.

“I love you too,” He whispers, “so, so much.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's 1am on a school night can I get a hell yeah for my first new fic in 2 years
> 
> but seriously, thank you sm for reading! Comments are very encouraging so I would really appreciate it!


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